Trunks' Toy Box
by meganechan720
Summary: A collection of DBZ drabbles, as varied as the contents of Trunks' toy box. Now Playing: "Pretty Mommy." Your past never leaves you. Even when you're out shopping with your three-year-old daughter. Eighteen and Marron have a moment.
1. No Son of Mine

**No Son of Mine**

_Trunks has something he needs to tell Vegeta about himself and Goten._

* * *

><p>Trunks took a deep, steadying breath. <em>I can do this<em>, he thought encouragingly to himself. _It's nothing. No big deal. It's just… my father_.

Briefly clenching his hand into a fist to keep it from shaking, he pressed the call button on the gravity room and waited.

Soon the light blinked from red to green, and the door slid open, revealing Vegeta's scowling face.

"What do you want?" he gruffed, scrubbing his sweat-soaked face with a towel. Trunks was suddenly speechless, rooted to the spot in pure terror. He couldn't go through with this, it would never work—

"Well?" his father repeated, impatient, and Trunks thought suddenly of Goten's laughing face, and the sight filled him with resolve.

"Dad, I have something to tell you." He winced as his voice cracked, but he hurried on before he could lose his nerve. "I… I'm in love with Goten."

Vegeta went very still, and did not speak for several seconds.

"What," he said quietly. "Exactly. Do you mean by that?"

"We've been having sex," Trunks blurted out, and his father actually winced. Trunks waited.

"Well? What are you telling me for?"

Trunks looked up at his father's face, suddenly hopeful. No beating? No disownment? His next words came more easily.

"We'd like your blessing, father."

Vegeta's face contorted into an ugly rictus of disgust and horror, and veins stood out against his forehead as his hands clenched into fists.

"You!" he roared. "Want. My. What?"

Trunks cringed, trying to force out complete sentences against the stammer that was currently all he could manage. Before he could, though, Vegeta reached out with Super Saiyan speed and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, holding him up so that his feet no longer touched the ground, even though he was nearly a foot taller than his father.

"You want my—No son of mine! You are banished! Exiled! Disowned! Get out of my sight!" Vegeta was grinding out words semi-incoherently, his face purple. Trunks was dimly aware of being carried, and then he found himself flying, shards of glass keeping pace with him as he arced towards the ground. He heard his father's voice—"Don't come back unless you bring me that boy's head on a platter!"—and realized he'd been thrown out the nearest window. He lay where he'd fallen for a moment, and then stood up, shook himself, and began the flight to his meeting with Goten.

* * *

><p>"Well?"<p>

Goten looked eager, but Trunks didn't say anything until he touched down, wiping at some blood on his cheek before he spoke.

"He threw me out the window."

Goten stared at him, and then burst out laughing so hard he fell to the ground and rolled back and forth. Trunks scowled.

"Hey, I almost had it until I asked him for his blessing."

This only made Goten howl even louder ("You—asked—him—for—"), so Trunks added,

"He wants your head on a platter now."

Goten froze, looking at his friend in horror.

"Holy crap on a stick, he's gonna _kill_ me?"

"Nah," Trunks said, sitting down next to him. "He wants me to do it."

"Oh. Okay."

"So what'd Chi-Chi say?"

Goten's grin was oddly guilty, and his hand flew to the back of his head.

"You're invited for dinner?" he said sheepishly. Trunks blinked.

"For real? She didn't go mental?"

Goten shrugged helplessly.

"I think she wants to make sure you're good enough for me."

It was Trunks' turn to laugh. Goten frowned in mild outrage.

"Hey, she's making a lot of food, you know. You could at least come eat it."

"Oh, fine," Trunks agreed reluctantly, though his ire was just for show. He adored Chi-Chi's cooking and they both knew it. "I might as well, since I'm disowned and all."

They kicked off as one, flowing low and slow towards the Son house.

"I can't believe you asked him for his blessing," Goten chuckled, losing altitude for a moment as he rolled over in mirth.

"I can't believe I actually let you talk me into this," Trunks grumbled.

"Me?" Goten exclaimed in mock outrage. "It was your idea!"

"No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was!"

They arrived at the Son house, late and disheveled, just in time for dinner.


	2. Conversation in the Time Chamber

**Conversation in the Time Chamber**

_Future Trunks tells Vegeta where he got that sword- and what he had to do to earn it._

* * *

><p>"Oh, come off it," I tell the boy, in the face of yet another lecture on morals. "You've never even killed before. And don't tell me 'Frieza and his father'," I add, forestalling the argument I can see coming. "You cut those two down in a fit of righteous anger, you've never actually murdered someone in cold blood."<p>

He stares at me, _her_ eyes looking out of my face, and then eventually drops his gaze, though his posture tells me he has not conceded the point.

"I did, once," he says softly, and I can tell right away he's not lying. "It was a friend of mine," he volunteers, and I'm shocked.

"You don't say," I mock dismissively, hoping to get a rise out of him. He is far more Bulma's son than he is mine, for all that his hair turns gold when he wills it, and this revelation is too unexpected to simply leave alone. A few purple locks are briefly outlined against the unrelieved white of this place as he turns his head sharply to study me; I give the boy nothing to look at but a slight smirk. Eventually he inclines his head back down, far too coy and submissive a gesture to have ever come from me.

"Yeah. His name was Tapion. He had a monster inside him, and the only way to keep it from destroying everything was to kill him. Mom spent days trying to figure out a way to contain it, but in the end I had to kill him. The sword," he says, an aborted gesture towards a sheath he no longer wears accompanying his words, "that I killed Freiza with was his."

I only make a small noise of acknowledgement so he knows I heard, but I can see now where that slight pain in his eyes comes from. It's nothing, I know well, to the sharp stink of despair or the dull-eyed acceptance that was common among those who followed Frieza but could not embrace his style of madness. I had been one of the few that still had bright rebellion in their eyes before he killed me, but only just. This boy has none of that, only a vague sense of sadness that is too delicate to have lasted in Frieza's court for very long.

It is almost worse, to know that this whelp has indeed touched the face of the killer inside him and can still spout the sentimental nonsense Kakarot and his ilk like to hold on to. It makes me think about things I don't think about anymore, and I jump up and declare the break over.


	3. A Matter of Contrast

**A Matter of Contrast **

_Eighteen learns to see Krillin without the foil of his counterparts._

* * *

><p>It's a matter of contrast, she finds.<p>

The levity and silliness of Goku bleed out onto Krillin and make him seem more foolish than he is. Next to Vegeta (who in turn is next to Goku) he seems impossibly short. His careful prudence looks like cowardice compared to Yamcha's brash foolishness, and his considerable strength is diminished entirely by the company he keeps.

She spends time watching him, after everything is over, and she begins to see him without the foil of his counterparts. His jokes reveal their acidity; the impressiveness of his strength makes itself known. He really isn't _that_ short, she finds, and he is perhaps the bravest one of them all, because he has no bloodlust to soften his sense of danger, no pride to buoy him up, no reserves of god-like power to protect him, and yet still he is not the last of his comrades to leap into battle.

So she kisses him again, to see the contrast of bright red blush against pale skin.


	4. What If?

**What If?**

_What if Vegeta had been a woman? _

_FYI, Roshi died once in Dragon Ball during the battle with King Piccolo._

* * *

><p>"It never ceases to amaze me, Vejita," Videl said to the female Saiyan, still intimidated by her but emboldened by her husband Gohan's many assurances that she was not going to snap and kill everyone if Videl looked at her the wrong way. "I have <em>never<em> seen Roshi try to grope you, not even once."

Vejita snorted, swirling the liquid in her glass before tipping back her head and draining it.

On the other side of the room, Mr. Satan was listening, enthralled, to the old man in question.

"You mean you died _before_ Buu destroyed the world?" he repeated, incredulous.

"Yup," Roshi said, eyes lingering on Vejita's cleavage. "Twice."


	5. Marshmallow Wife

**Marshmallow Wife**

_Vegeta was discovering the joys of standing next to someone shorter than him. He resolved to loom over Tarble as much as possible while he was here._

* * *

><p>"Alright, Tarble, I know I'm going to regret asking, but… what's the appeal?"<p>

Vegeta's brother looked up at him in confusion. He was discovering the joys of standing next to someone shorter than him, and he resolved to loom over Tarble as much as possible while he was here.

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"She looks like a damn marshmallow, man. At least earthlings look basically like Saiyans."

Tarble turned his gaze back to his wife, who was cooing over Trunks and Goten as they showed off for her.

"I love her," he said simply. Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"Look, you may be a weakling, but you're still a man. Answer the damn question already, would you?"

Tarble turned back to his brother and glared at him. Vegeta could say with confidence that it was exactly like being glared at by a kitten.

"Just because I have a relationship that is based on more than physical attraction—"

"You're not compatible, are you?" Vegeta cut in wonderingly, because it had just occurred to him. "You and her—Saiyans and—and, whatever her kind is, Marshmallow People—they're not compatible."

His brother's bright blush confirmed his guess. Vegeta threw back his head and laughed. Tarble's glare deepened.

"It is not funny," he said. Vegeta wiped away a tear of mirth.

"No," he agreed. "It's hilarious."

Tarble hmphed and turned away, still blushing.

"You are very lucky, brother," he said softly.

"Yes, yes, my woman has breasts, well you can't touch them—"

"That is not what I meant," Tarble interrupted, giving his brother a dour look. Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"Then what did you mean?"

"That you have found peace here, on this planet. A family and friends. Power enough to protect the people you love." Tarble sighed deeply. "Gure, too, is now one of the last of her kind."

Vegeta shifted uncomfortably, not liking the serious turn the conversation had taken. Tarble clenched his fists, so little and weak, and his teeth ground in a gesture so like one of Vegeta's own that it was like looking at himself, thirty years in the past.

"I was not strong enough to protect them, brother. I knew I was weak, but until now I did not know that weakness could be a burden. I do not wish to remain weak any longer."

He turned to Vegeta, some of his composure back.

"You are much stronger than I remember you being, brother. I wish to know how you did it. I wish to become strong like you."

Vegeta stared uncomfortably at his brother, feeling his stomach make slow flip-flops. The pleading look in Tarble's eyes was affecting him more than he cared for, and it was hard for him to know how much of it was sympathy for his brother's position, and how much of it was the simple fact that Tarble's face was his own, before Freiza. He hmphed and turned away.

"Sure," he muttered, and saw out of the corner of his eye his brother's face light up. "But I won't go easy on you just because you're family."

"Of course not!" Tarble's somber mood seemed to have passed, and he seemed almost excited. "I would not want you to. Thank you, brother. I don't know how I can ever repay—"

"Trunks!" Vegeta snapped, not wanting to hear any more of this. "Trunks, come over here."

His son bounded over, followed, as ever, by Kakarrot's brat. Yet another familiar face on the wrong head. By all accounts Goten was the spitting image of his father at that age, but to Vegeta, who had only known him full grown, the effect was mainly disturbing.

"What is it, dad?" Trunks asked, bouncing on his toes, obviously eager to please. It bothered Vegeta, sometimes, that his son was so obviously in awe of him. He didn't deserve such adoration, but at this point he wasn't sure if he could quell it even if he wanted to.

"Trunks, I want you to train your Uncle Tarble." Trunks whooped and jumped up into the air, Goten following suit. Vegeta put a hand on his son's head, forcing him down to earth. "Go easy on him at first, understand? His power level is very low, and if you aren't careful you could kill him."

Both boys settled down, looking up at him solemnly. He held his son's gaze, trying to impress upon him the importance of his warning. He wasn't doing this for Tarble's sake, he told himself, though he also knew this was merely a comfortable fiction. But if Trunks made a mistake and killed his own uncle, the boy might not be able to handle it, and as much as it sickened him to be unable (at Bulma's insistence) to fully instill in his son the Saiyan lust for battle, there were depths even Saiyans did not sink to. It was only under Freiza that they had slaughtered the innocent for sport. A true Saiyan found honor and pleasure only in killing worthy opponents, which Tarble was definitely not.

"All right," he said, when it seemed Trunks understood, and released him. The boy turned to his uncle and grinned.

"This is gonna be fun, Uncle Tarble," he said, and Vegeta supposed he hadn't been entirely unsuccessful in instilling a lust for battle into his son, because there was a glint in his eye that made Tarble gulp.


	6. The Darling of Kame House

**The Darling of Kame House**

_Trunks brings Marron home to the folks. It's a disaster. _

* * *

><p>"I think the thing I like best about Trunks is his nose," Marron answered, and Trunks shot a warning glance at his father, who rolled his eyes.<p>

"What, because it's actually there?" Bulma quipped, and Trunks turned his glower on her. Marron giggled.

"Nearly the opposite, really," she said, playfully tapping the feature in question. "It's so small and unobtrusive. Unlike other parts of him," she added saucily, giving Bulma a wink and Trunks a sly grin.

And that was when Trunks understood that all the energy he had put into his efforts to get Vegeta to behave during this meeting had been spent on the wrong person.


	7. Mirror

**Mirror**

_Piccolo and Chi-Chi romance –to see if I could._

* * *

><p>She turned to him, and got halfway through asking him to help her with some mundane chore before realizing that it was something she'd normally ask Goku to do—and furthermore she'd been leaning towards him as she spoke, the better to tack on a kiss at the end of her request.<p>

She faltered, and stared, and Piccolo grew nervous to see it, for Chi-Chi never faltered, and this lead to the equally uncomfortable realization that he was familiar enough with her to know this, and reliant enough on her that the mere fact of it could throw him off kilter as well.

He left swiftly, and she sat down at the kitchen table and stared into space, deep in thought, for a long time.


	8. Father Figure

**Father Figure **

_Vegeta and Bulma aren't the only ones disconcerted by an adult Trunks. Yamcha really thought he'd be the one the boy called father._

* * *

><p>He'd been there when Trunks was born. <em>Him<em>. Not that arrogant, stupid, muscle-bound asshole. It had been _his_ hand that Bulma had squeezed to pieces as she labored, _he'd_ been the one to cut the umbilical cord, _he'd_ been the first one to hold the boy besides Bulma and the doctors. He was the one Trunks was going to call daddy when he grew old enough to speak.

He was the one who looked at the young man from the future and felt proud.

But none of it mattered. Because he wasn't the one Trunks kept sneaking glances at. He wasn't the one Trunks lectured, he wasn't the one Bulma looked at with such patient amusement in her eyes, like she was just waiting for the big lug to figure it all out and she would make sure she was there when he did.

He wasn't the one who went berserk when Trunks died.

So he made sure he was the one who told Trunks the truth: that his father—his _real_ father—loved him. Even if he didn't understand it; even if he was as jealous as hell. Even if it was the last fatherly thing he ever did for the kid.

Trunks already had a father, and it wasn't him.


	9. Pink and Large

**Pink and Large**

_Buu gets The Talk. From Vegeta. I have no excuse for this. (Oh, and this obviously disregards the Dragon Ball Online storyline, which is complete crack and I love it.)_

* * *

><p>Buu did not understand the concept of fans. Friends he could wrap his brain around easily: Mr. Satan was a friend, and so was Videl. Goku was a friend, and Gohan and Goten and Trunks and Bulma. Buu had lots of friends, in fact, and he could not understand how the people who held up signs with his name on them at the tournaments were different. Sure, he didn't know them, but they obviously knew him, and they sure seemed to like him, so in Buu's mind they were just friends he hadn't met yet. So when one of his 'friends' managed to get past security and introduce herself as Jessica, he was delighted.<p>

Jessica, it turned out, was _very into_ pink, larger men, whatever that meant. Buu figured it just meant she liked him because he was pink and round, which was kind of a funny reason to like someone, but who was he to judge. It was certainly better than trying to live up to impossible body stereotypes. His friends (the ones he knew) all liked him just fine for who he was on the inside, but this lady seemed to like what he _looked_ like, too, and that was nice in a very novel sort of way. In fact, she also seemed to like touching him, which he allowed, even though the touches seemed different from the way Mr. Satan touched him in some indefinable way (she put her arm around his shoulder, for instance, and Mr. Satan did that sometimes, but the way Jessica did it was _different_ somehow), and by the time the conversation turned to what, exactly, he had under his pants, Buu was feeling very strange indeed. He was almost glad when Mr. Satan showed up and got very red in the face, though he wished he hadn't yelled at Jessica quite so meanly. She'd just been trying to get to know him.

Mr. Satan got a very strange look on his face after Jessica left, almost like he was in pain, only Buu was pretty sure he wasn't, and even if he was, Buu could heal him, no problem, all he had to do was ask, and Mr. Satan knew that, so why was his friend just standing there looking so _pained_?

"Buu," he began, and then stopped. "Uh," he tried again. He swore under his breath, saying one of the bad words Buu wasn't allowed to say. "I can't do this," he muttered, and poured himself a brandy, which Buu was also forbidden from.

"Buu," he started again, when his cheeks were ruddy from the alcohol. "When a woman likes a man. No, wait. When a man likes a woman. Uh."

"Daddy?" Videl's voice came from the doorway, and Mr. Satan threw himself on his daughter, sobbing.

In the end Vegeta got roped into doing it.

Doing what, Buu was not sure, and he was also not sure why Mr. Satan, Videl, Gohan, Chi-Chi, Goku, _Goten_, and even Trunks all got so flustered whenever the last one tried to explain what it was they wanted them to do. Buu was beginning to wonder if he'd done something wrong and they just didn't have the heart to tell him. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened. At least Bulma looked at him kindly, which let him know that if he was in trouble, it wasn't very bad trouble, and told him that she'd be happy to talk to him except she was very behind on her work and he would have to wait. At which point Vegeta had walked in, looked at Bulma, looked at Buu, looked at Bulma, and then turned around and tried to walk out. He didn't quite make it before Bulma's voice yanked him back.

Buu hated to be the source of so much trouble. He sympathized with Vegeta, since he also didn't like it when he couldn't sleep in his bed because they were on tour and there was no time to stop at a hotel before their next appearance, though why Vegeta would have to sleep on the couch in his own house Buu did not know. But since that was to be his fate if he didn't speak to Buu about 'you know what,' (though Buu definitely did not know what), he understood why he found himself and Vegeta alone in a room with Vegeta speaking calmly and using hand gestures and… oh. Oh. _Oh._

Buu's eyes grew wider and wider as Vegeta continued, dry and clinical as a textbook, no blush marring his cheeks as he explained not only sexual reproduction but also some of the more common views humanity held on the subject, as well as a few theories as to why everyone was making such a fuss over Jessica, who Buu was starting to dislike more and more as the whole ordeal wore on.

Eventually he stopped and asked if Buu had any questions, in a tone that implied he'd better not, though truthfully Buu only had one question.

"But Buu not human," he said, frowning. "What _Buu_ do?"

Vegeta opened his mouth. Then he closed it.

"Hell if I know," he said eventually.


	10. Goku's Bare Ass

**Goku's Bare Ass**

_You're not really one of the Z fighters until you've witnessed Goku running around naked.  
><em>

* * *

><p>"Welcome to the club, missy," Yamcha joked, slapping Videl on the back. She kept her hands firmly over her eyes, albeit with her fingers spread slightly.<p>

"W-what club?" she inquired unsteadily as Chi-Chi began chasing her naked husband around the yard, an equally naked Gotenks joining in the fun.

"The Goku's Bare Ass Club," he replied, chuckling. "We've all seen it."

Videl hadn't thought her eyes could get any wider, but they did.

"You _have?_" she all but shrieked. Beside her she could hear Gohan making feeble protests, but whether they were directed at Yamcha or his family on the lawn, she wasn't sure.

"Oh, sure," Krillin cut in, his sleeping daughter nestled in his arms. "He was quite the little nudist when he was younger."

"When he was younger?" Eighteen muttered skeptically, and Chi-Chi caught up to her husband and gave him an almighty whack with the frying pan and demanded that he put some clothes on, _right now_.

"Oh, man, when I met him he didn't even know what a girl was," Bulma laughed. "He was all horrified because he thought I was 'missing something,' if you know what I mean."

Gohan flushed deep red beside her, and he sputtered even harder when Videl asked, innocently, "Wait, but how could he tell?"

"Hey Videl!" he said in an unnaturally chipper voice. "Why don't we go for a walk and I can show you a really pretty waterfall!"

Goku walked up to them, mercifully clad in a towel, as Chi-Chi wrangled with Gotenks in the background, yelling for Bulma to come help her discipline the boy that was half her son.

"Oh, that one over by the pterodactyl nest?" he said, letting go of the towel. Videl held her breath, but it stayed up. "Can I come?"

Both Gohan and Videl opened their mouths to protest, but unexpectedly, it was Vegeta who beat them to it.

"Kakarot, do you _want _your wife to murder you?"

Videl tried to remember when he'd snuck up on them, but couldn't.

"Huh?" Goku's eyes were wide as he tried to figure out what Vegeta meant.

"Go put some pants on and leave your son to his conquests," he clarified, and Gohan flamed red from his neck to his hairline.

"Vegeta!" he wailed, and Videl just couldn't help it. She laughed.

* * *

><p>"So…" Gohan said awkwardly, by the waterfall. She had taken pity on him and made their excuses to his family, and had even allowed him to take her by the hand as he led her away to the sound of catcalls. "That's my family," he said, laughing nervously and putting his hand behind his head. She smiled.<p>

"Yup," she agreed. "They're… almost as weird as my family."

"What?" The shocked look on his face was priceless. She stifled a grin.

"I mean, we don't have any nudists, but we're not exactly normal either."

"But… I thought…" He floundered. "I thought it was just you and your dad," he finished lamely.

"Clearly I need to introduce you to my Aunt Luci and my Uncle Fera sometime." Videl took a few steps toward the river and allowed the grin to overtake her face. She waited, and was rewarded before long with Gohan stepping up beside her, looking out over the water, stars shimmeringly reflected in the spray.

"That's kind of a relief, to be honest," he murmured, sounding much more at ease.

She hmmed in response, and wound her fingers through his. After a long moment, he tightened his grip. She could tell they were both grinning their heads off, but he only quipped,

"So if you and I are the only normal ones in our families, does that make us the black sheep?"

"Oh, Gohan," she sighed, leaning against his arm. "What makes you think _I'm_ the normal one?"


	11. Mermaid's Tear

**Mermaid's Tear**

_Krillin takes Eighteen to see the Mermaid's Tear- you know, that big pearl he almost proposed to Maron with? Yeah, that one._

* * *

><p>Eighteen swam a few meters behind Krillin, ostensibly to let him lead the way, but also to admire the way his muscles moved as he swam. He was being so mysterious today, and Eighteen decided she liked it when he took charge. He bobbed up and down as he paused, looking left and then right as though trying to remember which way to go. Eventually he chose right, and she picked up the pace slightly to stay closer.<p>

He hadn't even blushed when he'd given her the bathing suit she was currently wearing; he'd just handed it to her and told her to put it on. Then he'd gone straight to his room to change into his own swimming trunks, leaving her puzzled and Oolong and Roshi in high hopes. She'd rolled her eyes and gone to her own room to change.

Now he was leading her into a cave, but instead of getting darker, the water was getting brighter. He seemed more certain of his course now and he glanced back at her, gaze slightly unsure. When the cave opened up into a large chamber he stopped, and pointed down to the large clamshell resting on the bottom.

"See that pearl?" he said, and she was fairly certain through the breathing apparatus that his voice did not waver. "That's the Mermaid's Tear. Turtle told me about it."

"It's… big," she said, still unsure. It was an impressive pearl, but Krillin made no move toward it. Was he just showing it to her? But this was not the playful Krillin that held up shells for her to look at on the beach. She waited.

"I took Gohan here a few years back," he explained. "I was… I wanted to propose to my old girlfriend with it."

She'd heard rumors of a previous girlfriend, but since most of these rumors came from Roshi or the Pig, she had put no stock in them. Eighteen felt an unfamiliar stab of jealousy somewhere behind her breastbone, and tried to ignore it.

"But Gohan pointed out that taking it from these fish would be stealing. See them, guarding it?" He gestured, and for the first time she noticed a large school of many different types of fish hovering near the pearl, watching the two of them warily. "And he was right, of course. He always is, about things like that. It made me realize, too, that I didn't really love Maron, not like a man should love the woman he's going to marry. She was pretty and fun, and I liked the idea of being married. But…" He gave a useless kick with his flippers. "It wasn't love."

The jealousy tightened into something else, something uncomfortably close to fear, and Eighteen maneuvered around so that she was facing Krillin, forcing him to look at her.

"Why are you telling me this?" she demanded, willing her heart not to beat so hard. He looked into her eyes, gazed so deep and so long she wondered if he was ever going to speak. But eventually he did.

"I realized today—well, yesterday. That I love you. When you fell asleep with your head on my lap. I looked down at your face, and you were drooling, just a little. You looked so beautiful and trusting. And… I just knew."

She was suffocating, and not because of the thousands of pounds of water pressure above her. Her voice was a whisper picked up and amplified unnaturally by her mask. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

"Not yet," he whispered back, his face, for once, at the same level as hers. "Not if you don't want to. But I wanted to tell you that I love you. That… I've never loved anyone the way I love you."

He held out his hand, and she looked at it for a long time. Her heart was trying to pound its way out of her chest, and she couldn't get enough air. Her eyes were stinging, and she clutched at his hand in desperation.

"It's okay," he murmured, as though he understood. "You don't have to say anything back. I just wanted to tell you."

"I do not drool," she insisted, hating the way her voice hitched. He smiled.

"Oh, yes you do."

"You're making that up."

"Scout's honor."

"You're not a scout."

They swam back the way they had come, bantering until she felt comfortable again.

"Krillin?" she said, when they were right underneath their boat. He turned to her, those large eyes wide and hopeful.

"Yeah?"

She looked away, her hand still in his. "I'm glad you didn't propose. To her. That girl."

When she dared to look back he was blushing and grinning his head off.

"Me too," he said.


	12. Red String

**Red String**

_Some things are inevitable. Mirai Gohan and Videl meet in Heaven._

* * *

><p>He was already sick of flowers.<p>

"Hey," she said, sidling up next to him in that not-walk he still wasn't used to. What was wrong with legs and why didn't anyone here have them? He'd been able to keep his, as a favor from Yemma, and it was nice, but mostly he just felt awkward being practically the only one.

"Hello," he said, turning to look at her. Young-ish, black hair, blue eyes. He didn't know her. "I'm Gohan."

"Videl," she said, in the easy way of the dead. There was nothing to get worked up about here, no reason to feint and dodge with your feelings. Everything could be laid bare without fear of reprisal. Everyone had their best feelings out, and no one made offense or took it.

"It's really boring here," he said. She smiled softly, agreeing.

"I've heard of a place where all the best fighters hang out. We could go there."

Was she a fighter? But she was only human, and she didn't even have her real body. Besides…

"Most of my friends are there. I… I can't face them yet. I watched them all die, and I…"

Heaven didn't mean the end of pain, but it did mean he could cry freely in front of a perfect stranger. She reached up and wiped the tears from his face.

"I'll go with you," she said, and somehow that made it all right. He would go there with this Videl, and he would face them and maybe, maybe they would forgive him for not being strong enough. He reached out to take her hand, and noticed for the first time the thin red string attached to his little finger. He couldn't feel it, but it was definitely there. She lifted her hand as well, revealing a similar string, and their eyes followed it together, reaching the same conclusion at the same time. They snapped their gazes together, eyes perfectly round.

"Oh," she said, and he had to agree.


	13. Male Bonding

**Male Bonding**

_"How did it come to this?" Vegeta and Gohan take their daughters to a children's concert._

* * *

><p>"How did it come to this, Vegeta?" Gohan lamented. On stage brightly colored bodies moved and gyrated oddly. "We're warriors. We've fought in battles to determine the fate of the universe. We've both <em>died<em> and been brought back to life. Is Fate laughing at us? Is this punishment for something we did in a past life?"

Below their field of vision, Pan tugged at Gohan's pant leg and demanded more snacks. Bra solemnly informed her father that she was going to marry Cabi-chan, the blue dog-faced one that was currently belting out some sappy melody about how much he loved carrots.

"Welcome to my world," Vegeta said not unkindly, placing a hand on Gohan's shoulder and telling Bra that she would marry Cabi-chan or any weakling on this mudball over his dead body, to which Bra responded by bursting into loud wails unaccompanied by any actual tears. "Welcome to my world."


	14. Mr Satan's Lovechild

**Mr. Satan's Lovechild**

_Space gets boring after a while. Pan learns something she didn't know about Trunks._

* * *

><p>"I think my favorite theory," Trunks slurred, gesturing upwards expansively, "is the one where," he turned his head to look his diminutive companion in the eye and grin mischievously. "I'm Mr. Satan's lovechild."<p>

"You're _what_?" Pan shrieked, having just walked into the room with a tray of food. Her grandfather and Trunks were sprawled out on the floor, cheeks flushed red. Trunks rolled his eyes.

"Back when I was born," he explained patiently. "There were. _Alllll_ kinds of theories about who was the father." He hiccupped. "That one's my favorite."

Goku giggled and took another swig from the bottle.

"Are you two _drinking_?" Pan demanded, horrified.

"Yup," they said in unison.

"Can I have some?" she asked, reaching for the bottle. Goku snatched it away, cradling it to his chest protectively.

"No, Pan," he said. "You're too young."

"You're younger than me right now, Grandpa," she protested. "Why is there alcohol onboard, anyway?"

"Well, it was going to be me and Goten," Trunks explained, grinning. "Too bad you're a minor."

Pan growled in frustration and left with her tray, resolving to eat somewhere else.


	15. Pretty Mommy

**Pretty Mommy**

_Your past never leaves you. Even when you're out shopping with your three-year-old daughter. Eighteen and Marron have a moment._

* * *

><p>Eighteen's left eyebrow quirked down involuntarily.<p>

"No, Marron," she said calmly, though she was feeling a growing tightness in her chest.

"Yes!" her three year old daughter protested, pouting.

"Marron, no," Eighteen repeated. "Why not the blue ones? Don't you like blue?"

"Want the red ones!"

Eighteen closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"I'm not buying you the red ones, Marron," she said, feeling foolish and guilty. "I'm going to get the blue ones, they'll look good with your hair."

"No!" Her daughter scrunched up her face and started to wail, and Eighteen had to scoop her up and cradle her close, shushing her. She glanced sideways at the other people in the store, though only a few of them even glanced her way, and none of them were staring. But she felt exposed and judged anyway.

"Okay, okay," she murmured. "I'll buy you the red ribbons. Geez."

Her daughter snuffled and leaned back, studying her mother's face. She placed her chubby hands carefully on her cheeks and touched her forehead to her mother's broad one.

"Pretty mommy," she said solemnly. The phrase had a myriad of meanings. Right now it meant, _Don't be sad; I love you; thank you._

"My pretty girl," Eighteen murmured back, her usual response. Today it meant _How can I be sad when you exist; I love you too; no, thank _you.

Her hands did not tremble when she placed the ribbons on the counter to pay for them, and she tied them neatly into her daughter's hair when they got home.

* * *

><p><em>Did anyone else notice what Marron was wearing in the Buu saga? I thought that was interesting. <em>


End file.
